Peppers developing unusual foliar symptoms

Credit: Avriette

Q: I saw the article on peppers and grew some in my greenhouse. I have little blue, hot chili, jalapeno and red bell peppers. I have a lot of flowers and fruits on all plants.

The red bell peppers have lots of fruit, but their leaves are turning inside out. Why?

They are planted in big pots with compost, mushroom and lime in soil. When the fruits came, I did ferterlize with the red Miracle Grow that I give my tomatoes. Is this the cause?

I keep them wet. And we live in the Cariboo (Lac La Hache) so I keep them warm, not below 60.

Tomatoes or peppers grown in containers of homemade potting mix seem to develop unusual foliar symptoms. My personal belief that the homemade potting mixes are not as consistent as the products one buys already formulated and tested, e.g. sunshine mix. Even if one initially buys a prepackaged potting mix and adds other amendments, I believe the original potting mix is altered drastically both structurally and chemically. Add on top of this, additional feeding and watering by gardeners trying to compensate for the abnormal foliar symptoms and the situation is compounded.

I would suggest using potting mixes in their original state and keeping any amendments to a minimum, e.g. 15 to 20 percent by container volume.